10222018 - News Article - Assessor Jon Snyder pleads guilty to misdemeanor tax charge

Assessor Jon Snyder pleads guilty to misdemeanor tax charge
Chesterton Tribune
October 22, 2018
http://www.chestertontribune.com/PoliceFireEmergency/assessor_jon_snyder_pleads_guilt.htm

Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to a single misdemeanor count of failure to supply information to the Internal Revenue Service, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana.

Snyder entered into the plea agreement on Friday, the same day the U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed an indictment against him.

The misdemeanor charge is unrelated to Snyder’s government service as Assessor but instead concerns his activities as owner of a private business, Shoreline Appraisals Inc. of Portage.

According to the indictment, Snyder was required to provide the IRS, by Feb. 28, 2014, an “Informational Return 1099 Form,” which documents all payments in excess of $600 for any services rendered by a non-employee in calendar year 2013.

That form is supposed to contain the name of the non-employee, his or her address, and the total dollar amount of payments made by the business to the non-employee.

In fact, the indictment states, in 2013 Shoreline Appraisals paid more than $5,000 to a non-employee, identified only as Person A, but Snyder “willfully” failed to provide the IRS with the requisite Informational Return 1099 Form by Feb. 28, 2014.

Failure to supply information to the IRS carries a maximum term of incarceration of one year and a maximum fine of $100,000.

Snyder, in the plea agreement, states, “I am pleading guilty to this indictment because I am in fact guilty of the offense,” and adds, “Despite knowing my legal responsibility to file with the Internal Revenue Service an ‘Informational Return 1099 Form’ for Person A, I willfully failed to file this form on or before Feb. 28, 2014.”

In exchange for Snyder’s plea, the U.S. Attorney’s Office under the agreement will recommend that the court impose a sentence “equal to the minimum of the applicable guideline range.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office also agrees that “for tax years 2008-13, no further criminal tax charges are warranted.”